


Stone Cold Kakashi

by androgynousclintbarton



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, M/M, Stone Cold Kakashi Makes an entrence, With a bit of fluff, Worried Kakashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28384539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousclintbarton/pseuds/androgynousclintbarton
Summary: Kakashi and Gai are sent out on a retrieval mission after Tenzo goes missing, and Kakashi's not handling it well at all.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Kudos: 44





	Stone Cold Kakashi

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TenzoYamato](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenzoYamato/gifts).



Kakashi’s mind raced, replaying the meeting with Tsunade-sama continuously. The moment that he had realized this wasn’t a normal mission she was sending Kakashi and Gai on. That she didn’t have an S-ranked missing ninja for them to hunt down and dispose of. 

The moment when his stomach had dropped. 

_ Captain Yamato is missing in action. _

The rest of the meeting was a blur. He couldn’t recall one second of what had happened until the moment Gai’s hand had come down onto his shoulder, finally pulling him out of his own thoughts. After that his only focus was getting to Tenzo’s apartment to find something for the hounds to sniff, and heading off to find his friend.

Still, the things that Tsunade-sama had said refused to leave him alone. The warnings, the reminders of their missions. It all kept running through his mind as he and Gai followed the hounds in search of Tenzo. 

_ Likely that he is dead. _

_ This is a body retrieval mission. _

_ The enemy cannot get hold of his body or the cells inside of it. _

His head was spinning. Was the universe really not done with him yet? Had he not lost enough already?

Landing on the next branch in a long journey, Kakashi reached out to brace himself against the tree when his eyes started to lose focus. There was too much going on in his head. Too many thoughts. Too much worry digging deep into his heart.

It was getting hard to breathe as it all sank in. Tenzo. One of his best friends who had been by his side for years through Anbu and was now helping him work with Team seven. At least, that’s what he was supposed to be doing when Tsunade-sama had given him a solo mission. She’d told him he was the only one who could do it. The only one she trusted.

And now here they were.

“Kakashi?” a voice called out to him from a distance, but it was drowned out by the panic. His heart raced in his chest, pounding so hard that it hurt. His head was spinning and it was getting difficult for him to breathe. 

Short, quick breaths were all he could seem to manage. The burning feeling in his throat from a lack of oxygen only made it more difficult to breathe. 

_ Tenzo. _

Everything that could go wrong raced through his mind. The image of Tenzo’s dead, bloodied corpse lying on the ground. Them finding Tenzo alive, only for him to be murdered right in front of Kakashi’s eyes. Even the thought of never finding Tenzo at all, and never getting closure to what happened to him. They all hit him one after the other with no break. No moment to breathe and collect himself.

An endless onslaught of everything that terrified him at that moment.

“Kakashi.” This time the voice was closer, but he couldn’t bring himself to look up. His fingers trembled as they came to rest over his eyes, and the nausea settled in. His brain screamed at him for choosing now of all times to start panicking, but there was no escaping it. He couldn’t slow down his breathing, or force his fingers to stop shaking. No matter how hard he tried the nausea wouldn’t subside, and the world continued to spin around him. “Kakashi!”

A hand came down to rest on his shoulder and with a gentle tug he found himself falling forward into the other man’s chest. Almost immediately, Gai’s scent overwhelmed him. Shoving back the thoughts that were busy assaulting his mind, and giving him something else to focus on. Each breath got easier to take as he focused on that smell. Gai’s sweat, the most easily identifiable scent and the only one that he had learned to recognize as what Gai was offering him.

Safety.

“I know you’re scared.” The words were barely audible through the screaming thoughts in his mind, but they managed to break through. Providing him with something to focus on other than the dark thoughts swirling around in his head. “I’m here, Kakashi. Come back to me.”

The more Gai spoke to him, the easier it became to focus. To push away everything that his mind screamed at him and cling to the soft words that left Gai’s mouth. His breathing slowed as Gai walked him through the breathing exercises he had learned years ago after seeing Kakashi’s first panic attack.

“In and out.” He breathed with Gai’s words, waiting for the next order and following it with ease. “You’re doing good, Kakashi. Just keep breathing. In and out.”

A hand settled in his hair. Fingers ran through the short silver strands, pulling him back down to reality. His fingers stopped shaking after a moment, and as Gai continued to talk to him he felt the nausea fading. 

“Sorry.” He uttered the weak apology, not bothering to move away from the safety of Gai’s arms. “I’m wasting time.”

“The hounds are still on the trail,” Gai assured him, smiling when he raised his head just enough to look up at him. “Pakkun stayed behind to lead us to them, and we can go when you’re ready. Either way, we’re going to find him.”

“But what if…” Gai narrowed his eyes. “Gai, Tsunade-sama told us this was a body retrieval mission. You know as well as I do what that means.”

“And if that’s all you focus on, we’ll have no chance of turning it into a rescue mission,” Gai argued. “You’ll get stuck here panicking for the next hour. We don’t have the time to sit around and do that today, Kakashi. But I promise you that once we find him, once we have him safe at home, then you can break down. I’ll be there with you. I’ll make sure you’re safe and we’ll be at home. No-one will see. But for now I need you to stay strong. I need ‘Stone cold Kakashi’”

It was rare for Gai to ask him to wear that particular mask. The one that kept down all of the emotions that bubbled inside of him. Which so perfectly covered all of his fear and pain, keeping it hidden away from the world. From everyone around him, except for Gai.

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi closed his eyes and slowly shut down all of his emotions. Just like his Anbu days. When he was never allowed to be anything short of absolutely perfect at his job, he had never taken this mask off. Even if the Hound’s mask was resting on his desk, ‘Stone cold Kakashi’ would still be there.

As soon as he felt the last bit of fear and worry being shoved deep inside of him, he opened his eyes once again. This time when he looked at Gai it was with the same eyes he would have when facing down an enemy.

Emotionless. Calculated. Calm.

“I’m sorry.” Gai’s hand cupped his cheek as he uttered his apology. There was no mask that Gai hated more than this one, but even he understood its uses. “We’ll make it quick, I promise.”

Taking a step back from Kakashi, Gai allowed his gaze to linger for a moment. Making sure that Kakashi was able to stand on his own and was ready for whatever was to come next. When he seemed confident with what he saw, he turned back to the small pug dog waiting for them and nodded his head.

With that, they were off once again. Soaring from tree to tree towards their destination.

Towards wherever it was that they would find Tenzo. 

* * *

  
  


A camp right next to a large river, no more than five enemy shinobi. That’s what Kakashi and Gai had found at the end of a seven hour hunt. When they had finally caught up to the other ninken Kakashi had been expecting a hideout. Perhaps even a heavily guarded village. Something that was worthy of all the worry he had been trying so desperately to ignore while they searched for Tenzo. 

Instead they found a small camp so lightly guarded that from where he was hiding he could see Tenzo, arms chained behind his back and blood covering the majority of his body as he sat propped against a large rock. 

This was nothing.

“Mist shinobi.” His eyes scanned the area for any sign of hidden shinobi. “The river will be a great asset to them so do whatever you can to keep them away from it.” Gai nodded, his understanding clear as he prepared to move in. “I’ll take the two closest to Tenzo. You take the other three.”

It would be easier for Gai to deal with the ones that were spread out. His speed gave him an advantage over most shinobi, including Kakashi. At least one of them wouldn’t see him coming, and the second wouldn’t have time to properly react before Gai was able to take him down. The third shinobi would be the one that Gai would have to have a proper fight with, and it’s a fight he was certain that Gai would win.

In his case, the two shinobi guarding Tenzo were close enough that he could hit them pretty easily in quick succession, allowing him to focus his attention on Tenzo. They wouldn’t have time to react at all if he attacked correctly, which would be easy with the hounds’ help.

“Pakkun.” The pug dog didn’t need him to explain the plan. Within an instant the dogs scattered in all directions and waited for his signal. “You ready?” He glanced over at Gai, waiting for him to process everything that they were about to do.

“Am I ever not ready?” Kakashi rolled his eyes. Of course that was going to be Gai’s response. “I’d say let’s have a competition, but clearly I’m going to take down more shinobi than you.”

“We can have a competition when we get home,” Kakashi offered as a substitute. “A race to the dango shop after we get Tenzo to the hospital, perhaps.”

“Oh, Kakashi,” Gai’s feet moved into position while he smiled over at the copy nin, “we both know you’re not leaving the hospital room until he’s released.”

“Fair.” Following suit, Kakashi shifted his feet into an attack stance and gave Gai a soft look. An apology for the date nights that he was going to miss while he was worrying over Tenzo. “Try not to take too long.”

His hand shot up, and within an instant the hounds moved in. Pakkun grabbed a mouthful of the shinobi closest to Tenzo, with Bull and Akino joining in to hold him down. As all of the others turned to see why their comrade had screamed out in pain, Kakashi and Gai moved in for the attack. 

As he’d suspected it was easy to deal with the two shinobi that had been placed to guard Tenzo. The first one was still dealing with three hound dogs holding him down, and as the second went in to help his comrade, Kakashi showed up with his chidori already charged up for the attack. Within a second the first enemy was down and he could turn his attention to the second as the rest of the hound dogs came to his side. 

Glancing towards the area where Gai was fighting, Kakashi noted that one of his targets was already down, and the second had just taken Gai’s foot to the sternum. A hit that Kakashi had no doubt would put the poor bastard out of commission. That left both of them with only one enemy shinobi to defeat. An easy task to take care of. 

Turning his attention to Tenzo, Kakashi started making his way towards him, a low whistle the only order he gave to the hounds before the enemies’ screams filled the air.

Tenzo.

His goal was Tenzo and nothing else mattered. He had to make sure that Tenzo was ok. Breathing. Alive. 

The screaming died out behind him, leaving only the sound of flesh being ripped apart and teeth digging into bone. He had learned to drown it out when he was six years old and had seen what his hounds were capable of during his first C-rank mission. 

Reaching Tenzo’s side, Kakashi knelt down and checked the binding around his arms. Chains that he couldn’t open himself, at least not without hurting Tenzo. Since that wasn’t something he was willing to risk, he pushed aside all thoughts of the chains for the moment and carefully wedged one hand under Tenzo’s legs and the other behind his back.

“You really got yourself into a mess this time, huh, Tenzo?” He spoke as if Tenzo could give him an answer, lifting the mokuton user into his arms and standing up once more. “I thought we agreed neither of us was allowed to get captured ever again after the Sunagakure incident.”

“Sunagakure incident?” Gai’s hand came down to rest on his shoulder, signaling that all of the enemies had officially been dealt with. “You never told me about this one.”

“You would have freaked,” Kakashi responded in a bland tone, his emotions still pushed into the deepest pits of his being. “It took me an hour to convince Tenzo I could get into Sunagakure without getting caught, rescue our week-long teammate who got himself captured during a mission, and get out alive.”

“And?” Glancing back at the taijutsu specialist, Kakashi narrowed his eyes. “Well clearly you made it out alive.”

“I did.” Holding Tenzo closer to his chest Kakashi turned to face Gai, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that the hounds were already starting to cover up their kill. “After the idiot was seen on the way out and I had to kill five Suna Anbu soldiers in order to get us both out of there alive.”

“So, that was the guy’s last mission with you, right?” An unimpressed look from Kakashi gave Gai the answer he was looking for. “Just making sure.”

Turning his attention down to Tenzo, Gai’s shoulders relaxed just a little. Mission accomplished. Tenzo was alive and safe.

Now they just had to get home.

Kakashi was about to head out, determined to get Tenzo back to Konoha as quickly as possible, when a hand came up to rest against his cheek.

“I’m fine.” He knew Gai could see through his lie. He always did. But right now was not the time for them to be sticking around in the midst of a campsite that they had just decimated. They had no idea when someone might stumble upon the carnage, and their job was to get Tenzo home. “‘Stone cold Kakashi’ is here, as requested.”

Gai winced at the reminder. He always hated being the one to ask Kakashi to put that mask on, even when they both knew it was needed to get the mission done.

Gai’s hand moved upwards, settling in his hair while he took a step forward and gently touched their foreheads together. 

No words were spoken, but Kakashi could hear the silent apology that Gai was trying to make. There was no-one who hated ‘Stone cold Kakashi’ more than Gai. No-one else saw the mask for what it was. Protection against the pain deep inside of himself. An act that Kakashi had put on at a young age because it was easier to be thought of as a ruthless shinobi, rather than being known as a broken man.

After a moment Gai took a step back and turned his attention down to Tenzo, his free hand coming up to gently lift the bloody shirt away from the mokuton user’s chest.

“A few cuts and bruises.” His hand traced over the worst one. A deep gash in Tenzo’s side that no doubt accounted for a majority of the blood that stained Tenzo’s clothes. “Other than this one though, he seems fine. Let’s put some distance between us and this camp and we can see what we can do about patching it up until we get back to Konoha.” 

Neither of them wasted any more time. Bursting up towards the trees, they started on their way back towards Konoha while the hounds each took position around them. If anyone managed to catch up to them they would have to get through the hounds for an attack, and that wasn’t likely to happen. No-one had ever made it through the hounds alive before, and with so much to protect they weren’t going to let Kakashi down now. 

* * *

  
  


A soft creak roused Kakashi from his sleep, his head lifting up off of the bed that he had rested it on earlier and turning to look back at whoever had interrupted him. Sleepy eyes focused on the green clad shinobi now making his way into the room, a soft smile on his face and two bento boxes in hand. 

“Mission report is done.” Rubbing his eyes, Kakashi looked up at Gai when he came to a stop at his side. “Tsunade-sama says that other than the deep gash that we were able to stitch up, there were no major injuries. Yamato should be able to leave by the end of the week, but he’ll only be on missions with Team Seven for a while.”

That was the first good news Kakashi had gotten since Tsunade-sama had given them their mission. Tenzo didn’t need to be going on any more solo missions for a while. Not after what he had been through. 

Not when Kakashi could still see the images his mind had conjured up of Tenzo’s broken and mangled corpse. 

“We got him home,” Gai reminded him, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. “He’s alive, Kakashi. There’s not going to be another funeral.”

Hearing the words said out loud didn’t get rid of the feelings deep down inside of him, but Kakashi pushed them back. He was in public, where anyone could walk in and see him at any moment. Now was not the time for him to break.

Turning his attention back to Tenzo, he sighed. Tenzo was home, safe and alive, so why didn’t he feel better? Why was there still this heavy weight on his conscience?

Lost in his thoughts once again, Kakashi didn’t notice when Gai’s hand left his shoulder, or when the door’s lock clicked into place. There was nothing around him that caught his attention until he saw Gai in the corner of his eye, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with him.

Kakashi didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what came next. As soon as Gai reached out and cupped his cheek he knew it was time. He was finally being given the permission he needed to drop the mask Gai had asked him to put on hours ago.

His demeanour shifted as ‘Stone cold Kakashi’ crumbled away. Every muscle in his body relaxed and within seconds he could feel the tears starting to run down his face. Thankfully Gai didn’t leave him to suffer alone for long. 

Wrapping his arms around Kakashi’s shoulders, he pulled him into a tight hug, saying nothing as Kakashi began to crumble. Just sitting there and holding onto him through everything.

The pain in his chest was the first thing that Kakashi noticed. Not just the feeling of his heart breaking all over again either, but the way his chest was compressing in on itself as well. How his lungs struggled to draw in breath as everything came crashing down on him all at once. The slight tremble in his hands as they came up to rest against Gai’s chest.

Every dark thought he had been trying so desperately to ignore came flooding back, bombarding him with the feelings he couldn’t focus on when he had to save Tenzo. 

One day. 

Just one day without feeling so helpless in a world so determined to destroy him. Was that really so much to ask for? One day where he got to look at the people he loved and not wonder if this would be when he’d lose them. If their next mission away would be their last, and he’d find himself standing in front of another gravestone. 

Was that really so much to ask?

“He’s alive.” The reminder was a soft breath against his ear. “We found him, Kakashi. He’ll be fine.”

Yet it still didn’t feel real.

A part of his mind was still screaming at him that something would go wrong. That they hadn’t done everything right, and hadn’t actually been able to save Tenzo. It screamed at him that any moment he could turn around, and Tenzo would be gone. Another friend that he failed to save.

“It’s ok…” Gai’s voice barely broke through the barrage of thoughts. “He’s alive and I’m here. You’re not alone. Breathe in, and breathe out. I need you to do that for me, Kakashi.”

Burying his face into Gai’s chest, Kakashi tried desperately to focus on that familiar scent as he followed Gai’s instructions. One deep breath in, and one long breath out. His throat burned as he did it, but he continued following Gai’s instructions. 

_ Breathe in _

_ Breathe out _

It was a mantra that Gai repeated to him and he followed, but nothing changed this time. His chest still hurt, his hands still shook, and his mind was still full of those thoughts. Nothing he did seemed to help him through the panic that coursed through his veins, no matter how hard he tried.

“I’m here.” The mantra disappeared, and Gai held him just a little bit tighter. “I’m here, Kakashi, and I'm sorry.”

* * *

  
  


Crying. 

That’s the first thing Tenzo heard when he started to regain consciousness. Someone crying nearby. A soft sob muffled by something else, but still audible enough that Tenzo could tell what it is. 

He couldn’t remember what exactly happened. One minute he was fighting for his life, the next everything had gone black. There was a pain radiating from his side that he thought could be from a hit he took from one of the enemy weapons, but his brain was still a little fuzzy.

The only thing clear was the crying. 

Cracking an eye open, he turned to see who it was making the noise. His eyes were still blurry, but right beside him he could make out two figures. Both of them were blurs of blue and green, one a much brighter, more vibrant colour of green. 

Gai.

He didn’t need his eyes to focus to figure that out. Only Gai and Lee wore an outfit that bright, and Lee had no reason to be in a hospital room with him.

At least, that’s where he assumed he was if Gai was by his side. Even with his vision still blurred he could tell he wasn’t outside, and he wouldn’t be at his own apartment already. Not when it felt like he had been stabbed.

It had to be the hospital, and that was Gai at his side.

Which only left one option for who the other person was.

Blinking a few times, he watched as his vision slowly began to clear and Kakashi finally came into focus. But rather than sitting slumped in his chair with that awful book of his in hand, he was slouched forward in Gai’s arms.

The realization hit him like Gai’s fist to his face. Kakashi. Kakashi was the one crying. That sound was coming from his senpai.

His mind screamed at him to reach out and try to touch the older man. To bring attention to himself and help him realize that he was alive. That everything was ok. Maybe then he would stop crying.

But no matter how hard he tried, his body refused to cooperate. It wasn’t just his side that hurt, and trying to move made that painfully obvious. All of his muscles were stiff, and there was a dull ache in his back that made it uncomfortable to even be lying there, but there was nothing he could do. His body refused to move.

So he was stuck. Unable to do anything but listen to his senpai crying.

He’d have to make it up to the older man later, but for now he just lay there and watched, smiling softly when Gai’s eyes met him.

At least his senpai had Gai. 


End file.
